A BNI Sports Exclusive -- The All Blacks are fielding a player with his left leg amputated below the knee.....and he's so tough that he plays without a prosthesis!

New Zealand's physiotherapists can't be up to much, though -- never mind his cruciate ligament injury. Has no one noticed that half of Tana Umaga's leg is missing? (Thanks for the link, Steve).

Also on the subject of sporting amputees (real ones this time), I came across the story of American footballer Neil Parry -- who, like me, is a below right knee amputee -- while searching for something else....I was actually looking for the video report on NBC's Nightly News a few nights ago about soldiers who have lost limbs fighting in Iraq.